Racing
© Morio
Max Verstappen has played down the significance of his Monaco home race and openly admitted Red Bull does not have the pace to expect victory this weekend, calling it “just one of the races where 25 points are to be won” and saying: “We are too slow for victory. That will be the case here as well.”
That is a blunt assessment for a driver who has lived in Monaco since the end of 2015 and has already won the grand prix twice, in 2021 and 2023. But Verstappen said the race no longer carries any special weight for him now that he has already won it. “It doesn't really matter that much to me,” he said to Dutch media including RacingNews365. “I see it mainly as a race where you can take 25 points, especially because I've already won it. I can imagine that when you win it for the first time, it is a really beautiful one.”
His realism on Monaco follows signs of progress from Red Bull. Verstappen took his first podium of the 2026 season in Canada and said the RB22 is better than it was at the start of the year, with the team having made positive steps forward since Miami. He also said he felt more comfortable in the car. Even so, he does not believe Red Bull can match the front on equal terms and said the team remains behind Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari unless a race unfolds with a series of favorable circumstances.
Monaco only sharpens that concern because Verstappen expects qualifying to decide almost everything. He called Saturday “the highlight of the weekend” and said overtaking in Monte Carlo remains “almost impossible,” even with the current cars. He said last year’s attempt to improve the show with two mandatory pit stops “did little” and added that passing does not work “even with the Formula 2, Formula 3 and the Porsches.”
That puts the focus squarely on one lap in Q3, where Verstappen said everything has to come together. “Everything needs to happen the right way. Then you see where it places us,” he said. He added that Monaco demands more than just decent low-speed performance, pointing to the need to ride the kerbs well and have the right driveability. Red Bull, he said, is still not where it needs to be in those areas. “The slow corners are okay for us, but those other things are not yet optimal.”
Verstappen was also cautious about the idea that driver input alone can rescue the weekend. He said he has made the difference before in similar situations, but stopped short of predicting that again. “If you feel comfortable in the car, then of course,” he said. “But I don't know yet whether I will feel that way here.”
He expects Ferrari, rather than race-dominant Mercedes, to be the reference in Monte Carlo because of the layout. “They are extremely strong in the slow corners, so they will be very strong here,” Verstappen said.
The irony is that this most personal of races still literally runs past his front door. Asked whether he might wave while driving by his home, Verstappen first said he had not thought about it, then joked: “Hopefully, I don't park it in the wall on the other side. Then I'd be home in no time.” For Red Bull, the more serious concern is that on a weekend where passing is close to impossible, a car still short over the kerbs and in overall driveability leaves little margin to fight Ferrari and the other frontrunners when Monaco’s decisive Q3 laps arrive.